President Obama should have studied the development of the 2013
Nissan Altima 3.5 SV sedan before taking the stage against Mitt Romney
in last week’s televised debate.
Had the president done that research, he would have learned
something about the limits of strategic inoffensiveness and, perhaps,
avoided a mostly lackluster performance.Here’s the problem: In both the car business and politics, it’s not
enough to be passionate in pursuit of moderation. Something hotter can
come along and knock you out of the box. That is the risk Obama is
taking if he continues playing nice with his Republican challenger in
future debates. It’s also the risk Nissan is taking with its completely
reworked but oh-so-compromised new Altima.Don’t get me wrong. I
like Obama. I like the new Altima. But both of them share a frustrating
habit of pulling punches when you yearn for them to go for the knockout.I
was excited when I saw a concept version of Nissan’s new Altima, the
fifth generation of that midsize family sedan, on display earlier this
year at the New York International Auto Show. It was stunning —
radically angled front end with counter-opposed, arrow-shaped headlamps;
muscular front fenders and side panels flowing nicely toward the rear
end; a nice finish in the end with rear lamps complimenting those up
front.Interior materials were substantially better than any I had
seen in previous Altima models. I knew that some compromise was
necessary, such as Nissan’s carry-over use of a 2.5-liter in-line
four-cylinder engine (182 horsepower, 180 foot-pounds of torque) in base
Altima models. That engine, in combination with Nissan’s continuously
variable transmission, would be nothing to get giddy about in terms of
driving performance. But it would be decent enough with a bonus of 27
miles per gallon in the city and 38 on the highway burning regular-grade
gasoline.Besides, the new Altima would also be offered with
Nissan’s 3.5-liter V-6 (270 horsepower, 258 foot-pounds of torque). That
is the one I was waiting for with the anticipation of a hot
presidential debate with my man Obama coming out swinging, jabbing his
opponent with tough comments about flip-flopping on social issues and
secretly putting down 47 percent of the U.S. electorate as self-entitled
moochers.But the Nissan Altima 3.5 SV’s performance on the road
was as frustrating as Obama’s in that first debate. I found a
wonderfully clear patch of highway in central Virginia — free of traffic
and construction obstacles, a road that invites you to push the
accelerator pedal just a little harder than usual. This, I did . . .
with all of the satisfaction of listening to the president lamely
respond to a sharp Romney jab with a professorial dissertation.I
pushed the Altima 3.5 SV’s gas pedal expecting it to leap to life —
stupidly forgetting that I was driving a car equipped with a sample of
Nissan’s continued experimentation with continuously variable
transmissions.An aside: CVTs are engineered to automatically
transfer power to the drive wheels, the front wheels in the case of the
Altima, using a system of pulleys. Fixed gears, as in traditional
automatic transmissions, have been eliminated to help reduce mechanical
friction and improve fuel economy. Technically, this is a good thing.
And, yes, it makes perfect sense — when I’m not in search of the
visceral thrill of the feel of a car’s response to a firm smack on the
accelerator pedal.The Nissan Altima 3.5 SV’s response to extra
accelerator pressure was the mechanical equivalent of “On the one hand
. . . on the other . . . ”I wanted something more aggressive,
although increased aggressiveness might not have made much sense. This
is what is equally confusing in the current state of politics and the
automobile business.We want our national politicians to be
uncompromising, smackdown warriors in taking on opponents. But we also
want them to have the finesse and common sense to compromise, to play
nice, if doing so is in the best interest of the country.The same
thing with cars, especially among those of us who love driving: We like
sharp looks. We want cars to drive as well as, or even better than,
they look. But we also want them to avoid and, failing that, survive
horrific crashes. We want them to deliver maximum fuel economy and to do
it all at an affordable price which, I suppose, makes wanting a car
such as the 2013 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SV okay. It delivers on all those
wants and needs.But the inner, deeply flawed me longs for other
things — a car with zoom, a president less given to politesse and more
inclined to punch the lights out of the competition.